Question

was the driver asleep at the wheel (for real) or just not paying attention?

GotDuc

If you're asking about my guy he wasn't sleeping, at least not any more than any other cager sleeps at the wheel normally.  I guess that's actually a lot, eh?  Anyway he wasn't asleep or on his cell, but he clearly wasn't paying attention, didn't look before changing lanes, and didn't check his mirror.  I always look in the mirror of the car I'm passing to see if the driver is making any head movement that might indicate a possible lane change.  This guy simply turned the wheel and didn't even glance to his left in any way.  Nice.

On the good side, the bike checked out perfectly at the shop today and I'm feeling fine too.  All's well that ends well.  I'll be forwarding the bill for the bike inspection to the driver's insurance for them to pick up the tab, and then I'll chalk this one up to another wild riding experience.  For all you guys out there that think you might have bailed in this situation, I say get out there and do some dirt riding.  Get used to throwing a motorcycle around, sliding it, and dealing with it when it's flailing out of control.  I'm not touting my abilities as some great rider, but I definitely credit over 30 years of off-road racing with saving my arse.  I wasn't nervous, scared or freaked out when it happened, I just did it by instinct.  I flicked the bars, I grabbed some throttle, and turned the bike off the SUV with knee pressure on the tank.  It seemed sort of matter-of-fact at the time.  Impact, reaction by the bike, and reaction from me.  I don't discount a good bit of luck too.  We can all use more of that.  Of course once it was all over then the adrenalin came out and the anger welled up over the inattentive cager.  Here's to hoping none of us ever have to go through this, and especially not as bad as the post above where he flipped over the rail.  Gnarly!!!